Wednesday, 8 July 2015

What Does Hierarchy Mean?

A practical application, first.

An employer is above his employee as far as things work in the company. Now, I am poorer than the employee, does that mean his employer is above me too?

I would say no. Before I say why, I will refer to an application which reaches a bit further. In Christianity every husband is above his wife. Does that mean every man who is married is above every woman who is married? Or that every man, married or not, is above every woman, married or not?

So, in the major example, me being a man does not make me superior to her being a woman. Only as soon as I marry, only then am I superior to my wife and even then not to other unrelated women.

When (and if) I become a father, I will, along with my wife (without which this isn't possible) be above my children. That I will remain as long as we live. Does that mean I am superior to any age peer of my children? No. They are not MY children.

And when I was an employee, I was under my employer, not under every other employer in the world, and my not having an employer - to return to my original point - does not make every employer in the world or the neighbourhood my hierarchic superior either. I can be obliged to obey an employer when I have one by contract, but not when I am not having an employer by contract, I can not be so obliged just because he is above employees who are materially better off than I am.*

Hierarchy is not a mere comparison of rank. It is not a pecking order. It is often enough a bilateral inequality. Involving no one outside the man and wife. And in cases where it is a little more complex, like one man and a woman known as father and mother being above their children, who may be more than just one or two, still they are not hiererarchically above the age peers of their children. And same thing with companies, if you are outside the company its rank system doesn't involve you, though it might be practical to know if you have a complaint.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
St Elisabeth of Portugal
8-VII-2015

* Oh, on another note, just because a priest or a bishop is above me in rank, it does not mean that if he is a novice master he is above me as a novice master. I am not a novice, in fact not a monk at all./HGL